Wednesday, December 29, 2010

This week, I've had the chance to spend some time in Delaware with my family. I've been going on walks, going to thrift stores, sleeping, and just acting like I'm on vacation. A Delavacation. It's been really nice.

nice ice

Yesterday afternoon, I went for a walk with my Dad in Alapocas Woods, by the Brandywine River, and looked at the ice. By the way, what do you call a bicycle with an infinite number of wheels? An icicle. That's my math joke. I made it up when I was twelve.

pretty pretty board shear

Last week, Mike and I put together the board shear, and it works like a dream! I will no longer be cutting book board by hand, and this is good news. Cutting book board by hand was by no means impossible, but it did feel like a chore. The board shear will make it far more pleasant and quick work.

This brings to mind a quote from Books, Boxes, and Portfolios by Franz Zeier, my philosophical and technical advisor.

Again and again in these pages I demand precision, but far be it for me to discourage those who are truly unable to work with a high degree of exactness. Creative freedom, however, should not be confused with sloppiness... An object made with love and care can be a thing of beauty, a whole, even when it is imperfect, by contrast another one, although flawless, can leave us untouched and strike no sympathetic chord.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

If you're in North Carolina, there's a great show up in Raleigh at Rebus Works Gallery featuring photographer Shane Darwent. The show's name is Via Penland. Every year, the gallery features one artist connected to Penland School of Crafts. This year, they featured Shane and his collaborations with five book artists, including myself.

Via Penland

This show represents over a year of travels and residencies, which are beautifully documented on Shane's blog. Shane also put together a great slide show of the opening, which you can see here.

My collaboration with Shane, a portfolio of five collages/drawings on his photographs housed in a box.

Some of Shane's hand-colored photographs

It looks like it was a great opening, I wish I could have been there! I'd love to hear your thoughts if you were there. I'm so glad I got a chance to do this collaboration with my fellow former core student, Shane. Thank you Shane!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Good news! I found out last night that some of my cards are going to be included in the book 1,000 More Greetings (page 17, Robocop). I submitted work for this book a year ago, forgot about it, remembered it, figured it must have fell through, forgot about it again, and then got an email which I almost deleted as spam saying I was in the included in the book. What a roller coaster ride.